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Struck by a “Beautiful” Young Lady, Shaquille O’Neal Shuts Up His Own Cousin to Hear Her Voice

Published 04/08/2023, 8:10 AM EDT

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Shaquille O’Neal is known for his straightforwardness and quirky responses to questions on public platforms. The Los Angeles Lakers star recently had a hip replacement procedure done but is recovering quite well based on his media appearances. The Big Diesel is back to doing podcast interviews – and making waves as usual. The four-time NBA champion has never shied away from complimenting people publicly, surely extracting a blush or two.

Shaq is also known to get into banterful debates with his cousin Jermaine O’Neal. Recently, on the Fluent & Chill podcast, they both got into it again while discussing who the top 10 NBA players are and Shaq’s dominance on the court, among other things. At one point, Shaq abruptly shut up his cousin to hear a young co-panelist speak!

Shaquille O’Neal made a lady blush in the middle of an interview

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While the panelists and Shaq discussed his dominant personality that induced fear on the court, the Big Guy got into a passionate debate with the others. The three got so lost in it that the fourth panelist Hailey could not seem to get a word in edgewise. Eventually noting her silence and seeming struck by her graceful demeanor, Shaq interrupt his cousin Jermaine in the middle of his sentence by saying “Be quiet and let this beautiful young lady get a question in.”

This caused Hailey to blush mildly and elicited laughter from the rest. The “beautiful” lady thanked Shaq for the courtesy and went ahead with her question. She asked the Big Diesel “Is there any player in the league right now that you can see yourself in whether it’s in their game in their mentality or even in like you know off the court in their business ventures?”

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Shaq responded with a blunt, “not really.” He explained his disagreement with the use of the word ‘dominant’, emphasizing how the game and playmaking today are very different from his time. He did what he did in a different time and space, Shaq put forth, having discussed with his cousin about not comparing himself to other players on current rosters.

He shared, “Jermaine told me this the other day I got to stop trying to compare everybody to my league and my era… maybe I have to loosen up a little bit. But not the same thing, dominant to me is that you we got three guys on this guy [Shaq himself], we can’t stop him, we’re gonna let the world know we can’t stop him”.

After explaining his point, Shaq went back to discussing the greatest players of the league with the others, and named his pick for the GOAT.

Shaq thinks LeBron is the GOAT

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While in conversation with the panelists on the podcast, Shaq talked about dominating on the court and inducing fear in his competitors. The conversation naturally brought up other legends like Jordan and Kobe. But one name avoided being tagged as fearful- LeBron James.

Shaq opened up about the aura these legends bring to the court and how LeBron while not feared is still an allrounder on the court. He responded to any disagreement and comparisons of LeBron to Jordan or other veterans by saying “If he’s not all these guys how come he passed them all up in your statistical category?” 

WATCH THIS STORY: “I Need Support, I Need Help”: Criticizing Shaquille O’Neal for Blackballing His Kids from $600 Million Wealth, Ex-NFL Star Makes Personal Admission

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While Shaq still would have liked to break Kareem’s record himself, he still believes in and accepts LeBron as the greatest player of all time.

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Written by:

Ishpreet Kaur

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Ishpreet Kaur is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. With a Bachelor's degree in Arts from the University of British Columbia, Ishpreet has developed a deep understanding of the intricacies of storytelling and writing. Her passion for the Toronto Raptors and their championship run in 2019 is evident in her writing, but she also brings a unique perspective to her coverage of the NBA as a whole.
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Edited by:

Aayush Kapoor